1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to animal feeders, and more particularly to a feeder for dispensing feed to livestock and other domesticated animals.
2. Description of Related Art
Various feeders are known in the art for feeding livestock and similar domesticated animals. The prior art devices typically use gravity to pull feeds down from a hopper into a trough from which the animals can eat. Sonic of these devices include a spinning plate or similar mechanism for assisting in the proper dispensing of the feed. Some examples of such devices include the following: Wiwi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,164, describes an animal feeder having a rotatable feed plate. A spacer is carried by the feed plate to limit the amount of feed carried by the plate and further prevents accumulation of feed on the central portion feed plate. Limiting the amount of feed on the plate reduces the weight of feed to allow rotation of the plate by a smaller feeding animals.
Swartzendruber, U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,229, describes an apparatus for feeding livestock comprises a pan accessible to the livestock for feeding therefrom, a container for holding a quantity of feed comprising dry powdered feed and a mixing chamber. A dispensing mechanism dispenses measured increments of the feed to the mixing chamber and a control valve is coupled with a water supply line for dispensing measured increments of water to the mixing chamber. A mixer is selectively operable for mixing the water with the feed to produce a fluid feed mixture for delivery into the pan.
Rasmussen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,980, describes an animal feeder that includes a hopper of animal feed. A spinning plate dispensing mechanism is used for dispensing the feed from the hopper off of the spinning plate.
The prior art also teaches a broadcast spreader mechanism for broadcasting feed over a wide area of ground around the feeder mechanism, for attracting deer and similar animals to a particular area. Chism, U.S. Pat. No. 7,866,579, for example, teaches a deer feeder that ludes such a broadcast mechanism. These devices have never been used as livestock feeders, however, because it is not desirable to broadcast feed onto the ground for livestock, where it may become wet or contaminated, but instead to direct the feed into a trough for consumption. Instead, livestock feeders have used gravity chutes and spinning disks, as discussed above, for properly dispensing the feed.
The prior art teaches livestock feeders that include gravity chutes, which may include spinning wheels for proper dispensing of feed into a trough. The prior art teaches deer feeders that broadcast feed widely about the feeder onto the ground, for the purposes of attracting deer to a location. However, the prior art does not teach a livestock feeder that utilizes a broadcast spreader mechanism surrounded by a tubular skirt that directs the broadcast feed into a feed trough. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further advantages as described in the following summary.